The present invention pertains to a system for marking informmation on an article and, in particular, to a novel laser-excited marking system for marking information on an article by means of a laser beam.
The labeling of articles, generally speaking, is a time-consuming, tedius, often-difficult task and in many instances requires an appreciable amount of labor, especially where labels are unique to each particular article. Yet, labeling of articles has been, and undoubtedly will continue to be, an essential part of commerce. Two essential requirements for any label are legibility and permanency, at least until the label serves its intended purpose. Many labeling techniques heretofore known have fallen short of attaining these two essential requirements; those which have been successful often have only limited utility.
The present invention is directed toward a novel marking system for marking information on articles which: possesses a wide range of utility; produces highly legible labels possessing excellent contrast; may be used to mark a variety of different articles; imparts a permanent marking which remains legible even when the label is exposed to rain, sunshine, and other weathering conditions; permits the label size to be easily adjusted to suit differently sized articles; does not require direct human contact to apply the labels to articles; permits individual labels to be readily composed on site to suit specific individual labeling requirements for particular articles; can apply labels at a distance from the articles; produces highly individualistic labels which, in spite of this highly individualistic character, require no chemical processing or drying time; creates labels of essentially negligible weight; is capable of rapidly labeling articles even though the labeling requirements may be different from article to article; is capable of marking articles with machine readable characters; and in many other respects provides significant improvements over current marking and labeling systems.
Additional features and advantages of the invention, along with those enumerated above, will be seen in the ensuing description and claims which are to be taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.